President Donald Trump reportedly hauled in more than $24 million in campaign donations in less than 24 hours, besting all of his Democratic rivals, and raking in more cash in the first day of his re-election campaign than any 2020 Democratic candidate made in the entire first quarter of 2019.
Republican National Committee head, Ronna McDaniel, tweeted Wednesday morning that Trump pulled in a “record-breaking” $24.8 million in the hours following the official Trump 2020 campaign kickoff rally in Orlando, Florida.
“@realDonaldTrump has raised a record breaking $24.8M in less than 24 hours for his re-election. The enthusiasm across the country for this President is unmatched and unlike anything we’ve ever seen! #trump2020 #KeepAmericaGreat,” McDaniel said on social medial
@realDonaldTrump has raised a record breaking $24.8M in less than 24 hours for his re-election. The enthusiasm across the country for this President is unmatched and unlike anything we’ve ever seen! #trump2020 #KeepAmericaGreat
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) June 19, 2019
Although the exact numbers aren’t yet available — the 2020 Trump campaign has yet to file any fundraising paperwork for the second quarter of 2020, and it may be months before any FEC filings reflect accurate numbers for June 18th’s kickoff — at least one reporter from ABC News was able to corroborate the approximate amounts.
Will Steakin reported on Twitter that the $24 million is a combined number, taking into account money raised by both the Trump campaign — around $14 million — and the Trump Victory Fund, which collects money using Trump’s name but splits the haul with the Republican National Committee. The Trump Victory Fund took in around $10 million.
This is a combined haul by the campaign and Trump Victory, the joint fundraising arm for the campaign and RNC, a Trump campaign official tells @ABC News
Breakdown:
Trump campaign: 14M (and change)
Trump Victory: 10M (and change)24.8M in 24 hrs (more than any Dem raised in Q1) https://t.co/WuDbUNTAGi
— Will Steakin (@wsteaks) June 19, 2019
The “first 24 hours” numbers are easily better than any of Trump’s prospective Democratic opponents’. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former Texas Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke were the previous record holders with $6 million and $6.1 million, respectively — numbers that once seemed shockingly high, but now seem somewhat lacking.
To put it into better perspective, Trump reportedly raised more in one 24-hour period than all of the Democratic 2020 contenders raised in the first quarter of 2019, according to FEC data released last month. Before Trump held his first rally, Sanders was in the lead with $18 million raised in the first quarter, with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) a distant second at $12 million.
Because former Vice President Joe Biden entered the race after the first FEC quarter of 2019 had closed, it’s difficult to quantify where Biden stands in relation to Trump, but Biden has been on a fundraising blitz since declaring his candidacy in late April, often missing Democratic round-tables and townhalls in early primary states to attend high-dollar fundraisers in Los Angeles, California and in New York City.
Monday night, at a fundraiser on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Biden reportedly raked in half a million dollars from a handful of donors, the New York Post reports, though he had to promise the “bipartisan” group that he’d refrain from raising taxes in his first term as President.
During the event, according to the Post, Biden boasted that his campaign had “raised nearly $20 million” — close, but still not in Donald Trump territory, and certainly not a 24-hour haul.